Lost Shadows

C3: The Beginning Of The End

Ok, so my plan to get answers didn't go as well as I planned. I sit around at the cemetery all day and nothing happens, I see no one - apart from the old gardener - and I eventually give up.

Maybe I just imagined the entire scenario. Hit my head when I fell, perhaps. But as far as I know, there has been no sign that anything even happened at the cemetery that night, no blood on that stupid rock or holes from kicking up the grass, everything was perfect. Too perfect.

I've been waiting a week before anything strange happens. It's silent, no cars, no birds, no wind, it's completely still. Molly and Greg left for Hawaii for their anniversary a couple of nights ago and they aren't returning for a couple weeks. I have the house to myself. Now for regular teenagers that would mean having their friends over and throwing a party every other night. As for me, that means I get time to do whatever I want...by myself...without anyone disturbing me.

It's not the silence of the night that tells me something's wrong, it's the cold. The windows start frosting over and my breath is strewn in mist. That's when I see him. I stand in the kitchen, the moon streaming light through the window. A spoon and a bowl of chocolate cake mixture occupy my attention as he appears in front of me, his eyes bright and his skin lucid. He smiles kindly, as if not to scare me.

Too late. I jump back and hold out my wooden spoon in front of me, chocolate dripping onto the white tiles.

"Who are you?" I ask as he steps forward. I take another step back, bumping into the edge of the kitchen counter.

"My name is James, I mean you no harm." His British accent is strong.

"You say that, but how do I know you're telling the truth? And how did you get here?"

"Apryl-"

"And how do you know my name?" I press my body further into the corner of the bench, trying to put more space between myself and him.

"Your sister sent me to help you-"

What is he talking about? Sophie's dead.

"My sister? How do you know about my sister?" I yell, fog rising from my mouth in shorts puffs as I breathe heavily. Then it clicks, "what do you mean my sister sent you? My sister is gone!"

He sighs, "she's not gone."

"Yes, she is. I'm pretty sure I would know, since I was there the night she died!" I desperately try to reason with the guy who just appeared in my kitchen. My breaths become shorter as I press against the bench, dropping the wooden spoon on the ground in front of me. Maybe I'm going insane. Maybe I'm imagining all of this. Maybe I'm dreaming. What if Molly and Greg get home to find I trashed the house because I was defending myself against a nonexistent man. James' body flickers, like a TV dropping out when there's bad connection. I grip the bench top tightly, my knuckles white.

"What are you?" I whisper.

"I'm a ghost," he says as if that explains everything.

"You're lying. Get out of my house!" I fumble behind me for some form of weapon.

"Apryl, I'm not going to hurt you. I can help you," He steps closer again.

"Don't come any closer!" He stops, "Help me with what?" I demand, shivering, as much from the cold as from the fear.

"Sophie sent me to help you, to warn you of what is to come."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean on your seventeenth birthday you should have died."

"I know, I was there. I tripped over a stupid rock and half bled to death. Then voila, I'm all fixed up, that sound familiar to you?" I come to the conclusion that he's not going to kill me, and manage to calm down slightly.

"I was the one who healed you,"

"I figured as much."

"Apryl, I need you to understand something, the world as you know it is going to change-"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but the world changes every day." I interrupt.

Instead of sighing or appearing impatient - like most other people would with my constant interrupting them - he just smiles sadly and continues, "the balance of the world is changing, Apryl. Ghosts are drifting into reality, angels are falling, demons are rising. The world will turn to chaos if you don't stop it."

"But how am I-" he places his hand over my mouth. I glare at him.

"The door between the worlds has been opened. You hold the key to stopping it. You and your sister have always been connected, you still are, which is why you can see me. You were born for a reason Apryl, you can stop the end of the world."

He releases my mouth and I lick my lips, "perhaps I don't want to be part of this, I can't stop the end of the world."

"Apryl, you're the only one who can."